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DAVID 



DAVID 



BY 



CALE YOUNG RICE 

AUTHOR OF 
A NIGHT IN AVIGNON, YOLANDA OF CYPRUS, 
CHARLES DI TOCCA, PLAYS AND LYRICS, ETC. 






NEW YORK 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

MCMIX 



Copyright, igog, by The McChire Company 
Published, September, 1909 






4 1909 I * 



SEP 



AFFECTIONATELY 
TO MY BROTHER 
L. LACY RICE 



ACT I 



CHARACTERS 

Saul King of Israel 

Jonathan Heir to the Throne 

IsHUl His Brother 

Samuel The Prophet of Israel 

Abner Captain of the Host of Israel 

DOEG An Edomite, Chief Servant of Saul 

and Suitor for Michal 

Adriel A Lord of Meholah^ Suitor for Merab 

David A Shepherd^ secretly ajiointed King 

Abishai A Follower of David 

Abiathar A Priest and Follower of David 

A Philistine Spy . . 

Ahinoam The Queen 

Merab .... 



Daughters of Saul and Ahinoam 
Michal . ' 

Miriam A Blind Prophetess, and later the 

' ' Witch of Endor " 
Judith 1 

Leah )■ Timbrel-players of the King 

ZiLLA J 

Adah Handmaiden to Merab 



A Chorus of Women, a Band of Prophets, Followers of David, 
Soldiers of Saul, People of the Court, etc. 



ACT I 

Scene : A Hall of Judgment in the palace of Saul 
at Gibeah. The walls and pillars of cedar are 
richly carven — with serpents, pomegranates, 
and cherubim in gold. The Uoors are of bright 
marble; the throne of ivory hung with a lion's 
skin whose head is its footstool. On the right, 
by the throne, and on the left are doors to 
other portions of the palace; they are draped 
with woven curtains of purple and white. In 
the rear, which is open and supported on pil- 
lars, a porch crosses a court. Through the 
porch, on the environing hills, glow the camp- 
fires of the Philistines, the enemies of Israel. 
Lamps in the Hall biirn low, and on the -floor 
Judith, Leah and Zilla are reclining rest- 
ively. 



4 DAVID 

Judith (springing to her feet impatiently). O 
for a feast, pomegranate wine and song ! 

Leah. Oh ! Oh ! 

Zilla. A feast indeed ! the men in camp ! 

When was a laugh or any leaping here? 
Never ; and none to charm with timbreling ! 

[She goes to the porch. 

Leah. What shall we do? 
Judith. I'll dance. 

Zilla. Until you're dead. 

Judith. Or till a youth wed Zilla for her beauty ? 
I'll not soil mine with sullen fear all day 
Because these Philistines press round. As well 
Be wenches gathering grapes or wool ! Come, 
Leah. 

[She prepares to dance. 

Leah. No, Judith, I'll put henna on my nails, 

[Sits down. 
And mend my anklet. 

Zilla {at the curtains). Oh! Oh! Oh! 



DAVID 5 

Judith. Now, hear her. 

Who, who, now? who, who is it? dog, fox, devil? 

Zilla. All ! 

Judith. Then 'tis Ishui ! (Bounding to cur- 
tains.) Yes. Ishui! 
And fury in him, sallow, souring fury ! 
A jackal were his mate ! Come, come, we'll plague 
him, 

Zilla. Shall we — with David whom he hates? 

Judith. Aie, David ! 

The joy of rousing men to jealousy ! 

Leah. Why hates he David, Zilla? 

Zilla. Stupid Leah I 

Judith. Hush, hush, be meet and ready now; 
he's near. 
Look as for silly visions and for dreams ! 

[They pose. Ishui enters. Judith sighs. 

Ishui. Now, timbrel-gaud, why gape you here? 
Judith. O! 'tis 

Prince Ishui ! 



6 DAVID 

Zilla. Prince Ishui ! Then he 

Will tell us ! he will tell us ! 

Leah. Yes ! 

Judith. Of David! 

O, is he come? when, where? — quick, quick? — and 

will 
He pluck us ecstasies out of his harp, 
Winning until we're wanton for him, mad. 
And sigh and laugh and weep to the moon? 

Ishui. Low thing! 

Chaff of the king! 

Judith. The king ! I had not thought ! 

David a king ! how beauteous would he be ! 

Ishui. David ? 

Judith. Turban of sapphire ! robe of gold ! 

Ishui. A king? o'er Israel? 

Judith. Who, who can tell? 

Have you not heard? Yesterday in the camp, 
Among war-old but fearful men, he offered 
Kingly to meet Goliath — great Goliath ! 

Ishui. What do you say? to meet Goliath? 



DAVID 7 

Judith (laughing in his face). Aie ! 

IHe thrusts her from him. 

[^She goes, dancing zvith Zilla and Leah. 

Adriel {who has entered). Ishui, in a rage? 

Ishui. Should I not be? 

Adriel. Not would you be yourself. 

Ishui. Not? {Deftly.) You say well. 

I should not, no. Pardon then, Adriel. 

Adriel. What was the offence? 

Ishui. Turn from it: I have not 

Bidden you here for vapors . . . tho' they had 
Substance as well for you ! 

Adriel. For me? 

Ishui. Who likes 

Laughter against him? 

Adriel. I was laughed at? 

Ishui. Why, 

It is this shepherd ! 

Adriel. David? 



8 DAVID 

Ishui. With his harp ! 

Flinging enchantment on the palace air 
Till he impassions to him all who breathe. 

Adriel. What sting from that? He's lovable 
and brave. 

Ishui. Lovable? lovable? 

Adriel. I do not see. 

Ishui. This, then: you've hither come with gifts 
and gold, 
Dream-bringing amethyst and weft of Ind, 
To wed my sister, Merab? 

Adriel. It is so. 

Ishui. And you've the king's consent; but she 
denies ? 

Adriel. As every wind, you know it. 

Ishui. Still denies ! 

And you, lost in the maze of her, fare on 
Blindly and find no reason for it ! 

Adriel. How? 

What reason can be? women are not clear; 
And least unto themselves. 



DAVID 9 

Ishui. Or to their fools? 

IGocs to curtain^ draws out Adah. 
Your mistress, Merab, girl, whom does she love? 
Unclench your hands. 

Adah. I hate her. 

Ishui. Insolent ! 

Answer; I am not milky Jonathan, 
Answer; and for the rest — You hear? 

Adah. She loves 

The shepherd David! 

Adriel. Who, girl? 

Adah. I care not! 

She is unkind; I will not spy for her 
On Michal, and I'll tell her secrets all I 
And David does not love her — and she raves. 

Ishui. Off to your sleep; be off — 

[Makes to strike her. 

Adriel. Ishui, no. 

[Adah goes. 

Ishui (gnashingly). Then see you now how 
** lovable " he is? 



lo DAVID 

I tell you that he stands athwart us all ! 

The heart of Merab is swung, as a censer, to him, 

My seat at table with the king usurped ! 

Mildew and mocking to the harp of Doeg 

As it were any slave's; the while we all 

Are lepered with suspicion. 

Adriel. Of the king? 

Ishui. Ai ! and of Jonathan and Michal. 

Adriel. Hush. 

[Enter Michal, passing, with Miriam. 

Michal, delay. Whom lead you? 

Michal. Miriam, 

A prophetess. 

Adriel. How of the king to-night? 

Michal. He's not at rest; dreads Samuel's 
prophecy 
The throne shall pass from him, and darkens more 
Against this boundless Philistine Goliath 
Who dares at Israel daily on the hills. 
As we were dogs ! 



DAVID II 

Adriel. Is David with him? 

Michal. No ; 

But he is sent for — and will ease him — Ah ! 
He's wonderful to heal the king with his harp ! 
A waft, a sunny leap of melody, 
And swift the hovering mad shadow's gone. 

Adriel. I thank you. 

Ishui. And I curse ! 

Michal. What anger's this? 

Ishui. Disdaining Doeg and his plea to dust, 
His waiting and the winning o'er of Edom, 
You are enamored of this David too? 

Michal. I think my brother Ishui hath a fever. 
[^She goes, calmly, with Miriam. 

Ishui. Now you are kindled — are you quivering. 
Or must this shepherd put upon us more? 

Adriel. But has he not dealt honorably? 

Ishui. No. 

Adriel. Why do you urge it? 

Ishui. Why have senses? Does he 

With Samuel the prophet not enshroud 



12 DAVID 

Some secret, and has Samuel not told 
The kingdom from my father shall be rent 
And fall unto one another? 
Adriel. You are certain? 

[Voices in altercation. 

Ishui. Is not the proof pouring into my ears? 
Can you not hear? 

Adriel. The king? 

Ishui. And Samuel 

With prophecy or some refusal tears him ! 

[They step aside. Saul, followed by 
Samuel, strides in and mounts the 
throne. 

Saul. You threat, and ever thunder threatening ! 
Pour seething prophecy into my veins. 
Till a simoon of madness in me moves. 
Am I not king, the king? chosen and sealed? 
Who've been anathema and have been bane 
Unto the foes of Israel, and filled 
The earth with death of them? 



DAVID 13 

And do you still forbid that I bear gold 
And bribe away this Philistine array 
Folded about us, fettering with flame? 

Samuel: Yes, — yes ! While there is air — and 
awe of Heaven 
Do I forbid ! A champion must rise 
To level this Goliath. Thus may we 
Loose on them pest of panic and of fear. 

Saul. Are forty days not dead ? A champion ! 
None will arise — 'tis vain. And Til not wait 
On miracle. 

Samuel. Offer thy daughter, then, 
Michal, thy fairest, to whoever shall. 

Saul. Demand and drain for more ! without an 
end. 
Ever vexation ! No ; I will not. 

Samuel. Then, 

Out of Jehovah and a vast foreseen 
I tell thee again, thou perilous proud king, 
The scepter shall slip from thee to another ! 

IHe moves to go. 



14 DAVID 

Saul. The scepter. . . . 

Samuel, To another! 

Saul. From me ! No ! 

You rouse afar the billowing of ill. 
I grant — go not ! — I grovel to your will, 
Fear it and fawn as to omnipotence, 

[Snatching at Samuel's mantle. 
And vow to all its divination — all ! 

Samuel. Then, Saul of Israel, the hour is near, 
When shall arise one, and Goliath fall ! 

[Goes slowly out by the porch, Saul sinks 
back. 

Ishui (after a pause, keenly). Oh, — subtle! 

Saul. Thus he sways me. 

Ishui. Subtle ! — subtle ! 

And yet I must not speak; come, Adriel, 

[As if going. 
No use of us is here. 

Saul. Use? subtle? Stand! 

Ishui. No, father, no. 

Saul. What mean you? 



DAVID IS 

Ishui. Do not ask. . . . 

Yet how it creeps, and how! 

Saul. Unveil your words. 

Ishui. Do you not see it crawl, this serpent 
scheme ? 
Goliath slain — the people mad with praise, 
Then fallen from you — Michal the victor's 
wife. . . . 

Saul. Say on, say on. 

Ishui. Or else the champion slain — 

Fear on the people — panic — the kingdom's ruin ! 

Saul. Now do the folds slip from me. 

Ishui. And you see? 

Ah, then, if one arise? If one arise? 

Saul. Death, death ! If he hath touched this 
prophet — if 
Merely a little moment! — 

Ishui. I have seen 

Your David with him. 

Saul. Death ! if Come here : David ? 

Ishui. In secret. 



i6 DAVID 



Saul. 


Say you? 


Ishui. 


Yes. 


Saul. 


The folds slip further; 



To this you lead me — hatred against David ! 
To this with supple envy's easy glide ! 

Ishui. I have but told 

Saul. You have but builded lies, 

As ever you are building and forever. 
I'll hear no more against him — Abner ! — no. 
{To Abner, zvho enters.) David, and with his 
harp. 

Abner. My lord 

Saul. Not come? 

He is not come ? Forever he delays ! 

IRemounts throne. 

Abner. Time's yet to pass. 

Saul. There is not. Am I king? 

[A harp is heard. 

See you, 'tis he ! . . . 'Tis David ! . . . And he 
sings ! 



DAVID 17 

David (bravely, within). 

Smiter of Hosts, 
Terrible Saul ! 
Vile on the hills shall he laugh who boasts 
None is among 
Great Israel's all 
Fearless for Saul, King Saul ! 

[Entering with people of the palace. 
Aye, is there none 
Galled of the sting, 
Will at the soul of Goliath run? 
Wring it and up 
To his false gods fling? . . . 
None for the king, the king? 

[He drops to his knee, amid praise, before 
the throne. 
Saul (darkening). Forego this praise and stand 
Away from him; 'tis overmuch. 
(To David.) Why have 

You dallied and delayed? 
David. My lord, delayed? 



i8 DAVID 

Saul. Do not smile wonder, mocking! 

David. Why, my lord, 

I do not mock. Only the birds have wings. 
Yet on the vales behind me I have left 
Haste and a swirl, a wonderment of air, 
And in the torrent's troubled vein amaze, 
So swift I hurried hither at your urgence 
Out of the fields and folding the far sheep ! 

Saul. You have not; you have dallied. 

{Motions rest out. 
You have dallied. 

[Comes down indeterminately. 

And now 

David. And now the king with darkness foams, 
With sheeted passions like to lightning gusts. 

[All have gone. 
Shall I not play to him? 
Saul. You shall not, no. 

[Slowly draws a dagger. 
I'll not be lulled. 



DAVID 19 

David. But show a tiger gleam? 

Terrible fury stealing from the heart 
And crouching cold within the eye, O Saul? 

Saul. I'll not endure. They say that you 



David. They say? 

What is this raving in you? Does the truth 
So limpid overflow in palaces? 
Never an enemy to venom it? 
Am I not David, faithful, and thy friend? 

Saul. I'll slay you and regretless. 

David (unmoving) . Slay, my lord? 

Saul. Do you not fear? And brave me to my 
breast? 

David. Have I done wrong that I should fear 
the king? 
Reed as I am, could he not breathe and break? 
And I should be oblivion at a word ! 
But under the terror of his might have I 
Not seen his heart beat justice and beat love? 
See, even now ! . . . 

Saul. I will not listen to them ! 



20 DAVID 

David. To whom, my lord, and what? 

Saul. Ever they say, 

" This David," and " This David ! " It is Hes. . . . 
But think you, David, I shall lose the kingdom? 

David (starting). My lord! . . . 

Saul. Pain in your eyes? you think it? Deem 
I cannot overleap this destiny? 

David. To that let us not verge ; it has but ill. 
Deeper the future gulf is for our fears. 
Forget it. Forget the brink may ever gape, 
And wield the throne so well that God Himself 
Must not unking you, more than He would cry 
The morning star from Heaven ! Then, I swear it, 
None else will ! 

Saul. Swear ? 

David. Nay, nay! 

Saul. You swear? 

David. But words, 

Foolishly from the heart ; a shepherd speech ! 
Give them no mood; but see, see yonder fires 
Camping upon the peace of Israel, 



DAVID 21 

As we were carrion beneath the sun ! 
Let us conceive annihilation on them, 
Hurricane and a deluging and ruin. 

Saul! Ah, but the prophecy ! the prophecy ! 
It eats in me the food of rest and ease. 
And David, nearer: Samuel in my stead 
Another hath anointed. 

David. Saul, not this ! 

This should not fall to me, my lord ; to me ! 
You cannot understand; it pains beyond 
All duty and enduring ! 

Saul. Pains beyond . . . ? 

Who is he? know you of him? do you? know 

you? 
You sup the confidence of Samuel? 
I'll search from Nile to Nineveh 

David. My lord ! 

Saul. Mountain and desert, wilderness and sea. 
Under and over, search— and find. 

David. Peace, peace ! 

Enter Michal joyously. 



22 DAVID 

Michal. O father, father! David! Listen! 
. . . Why 
All here is dark and quivering as pain, 
And a foreboding binds me ere I breathe ! 
David, you have not been as sun to him ! 

David. But Michal will be now. 

Saul. Child, well, what then? 

Michal. Father, a secret ! Oh, and it will make 
Dawn and delight in you ! 

Saul. Perhaps; then, well? 

Michal. Oh, I have heard . . . ! 

[Stops, 

Saul. Have heard ! — Why do you pale ? 

[She stands unaccountably moved. 
Now are you Baal-bit? 

David. Michal ! 

Michal (in terror). David! . . . David! 

What does it mean ? I cannot speak ! It shrinks 
Shivering down upon my heart in awe ! 

David. And numbs you so? — 



DAVID 23 

Saul. Let it rush from your lips ! 

Can any moving in the world so bring 
Terror upon you! Speak, what is it? 

MicHal. Ah ! 

I know not; danger rising and its wing 
Sudden against my lips ! 

David. To warn? 

Michal. It shall not! 

There — now again flows joy: I think it flows. 

Saul. Then — you have heard . . . ? 

Michal. Yes, father, yes ! Have you 

Not much desired discovery of whom 
Samuel hath anointed? 

Saul. Well? 

Michal. I've found 

[David blenches. 

Almost have found ! A prophetess to-day 
Hath told me that he is a 

\_Reali2es. 



24 DAVID 

Saul, Now you cease? 

\_She stands horrified. 

Sudden and senseless! 

Michal. David ! — No ! 

Saul. God ! God ! 

Have I not bidden swiftly ! Ever then 
Vexation ? I could — Ah. Will she not speak ! 

Michal. I cannot. 

Saul. Cannot ! Are you flesh of me ? 

David. My lord, not anger ! 

Saul. Cannot ! 

David. Yea ! For see ! 

Her lips could never seal upon a wrong. 
Sudden divinity is on them, silence 
Sent for the benison of Israel, 
Else were it shattered by her love to you ! 
Believe, in all the riven realm of duty 
There's no obedience from thee she would hold. 

If it seem other 

Enter Abner hurriedly. 



DAVID 25 

Abner. Pardon, O king. A word. 

Saul. I will not. Do you come with vexing too ? 
Abner. The Philistines — some fury is afoot; 
A spy's within our gates — and scorns to speak. 
Saul. Conspiracy of silence ! . . . Back to him. 

[Abner goes. 
(To David and Michal.) But you — I'll not for- 
get. I'll not forget. 

IGoes trembling, his look bent backward 
still upon them. 
David (casting off suspense). Forget! anoint- 
ing peril ! What are they all ? 
Michal ! — for me you have done this, for me ? 

\_She stands immovable. 

has a princess in whose veins there flow 
Sympathy and all love unto a father, — 
Has she so shielded me? 

Michal. You are the anointed? 

David. I am — oh, do not flint your loveliness ! — 

1 am the anointed, but all innocent 



26 DAVID 

In will or hope of any envious wrong, 
As lily blowing of blasphemy ! as dew 
Upon it is of enmity ! 

Michal. Anointed ! 

You whom the king uplifted from the fields ! 

David. And who am ever faithful to him ! 

Michal. You, 

Whom Jonathan loves more than women love ! 

David. Yet reaches not my love to Jonathan ! 

Michal. You — you ! 

David. But, hear me ! 

Michal. You, of all ! 

David. O hear ! 

Of my anointing Jonathan is 'ware. 
Knows it is holy, helpless, innocent 
As dawn or a drift of dreaming in the night ! 
Knows it unsought — out of the skies — supernal — 
From the inspired cruse of Samuel! 
For Israel it dripped upon me, and 
For Israel must drip until I die ! 
Or till high Gath and Askalon are blown 



DAVID 27 

Dust on the wind, and all Philistia 

Lie peopleless and still under the stars ! . . . 

Goliath, then, a laughter evermore ! . . . 

Still, still you shrink? do you not see, not feel? 

Michal. So have you breathed yourself about 
my heart. 
Even as moonlit incense, spirit flame 
Burning away all barrier ! 

David. But see ! 

Michal. And all the world has streamed a rap- 
ture in, 
Till even now my lids from anger falter 
And the dew falls ! 

David. Restrain ! O do not weep ! 

Upon my heart each tear were as a sea 
Flooding it from all duty but the course 
Of thy delight ! 

Michal. Poor, that I should have tears ! 

Fury were better, tempest ! O weak eyes. 
When 'tis my father, and with Samuel 
You creep to steal his kingdom ! 



28 DAVID 

David. Michal! . . . God! 

Michal. Yes, steal it! 

David. Cruel ! fell accusal ! Yea, 

Utterly false and full of wounding! 
(After a pause.) Yet, 

Forgive that even v^hen thy arrows sink 
Deeper than all the skill of time can draw, 
I spare thee not this furrowed face of pain . . . 
Delirious wings of hope that fluttered up, 
At last to fall ! 

IMoves to go. 
Michal. David ! 

David. Farewell ! 

Michal. • . • You must not! 

David. Peace to you, peace and joy ! 
Michal. You must not go ! 

[He turns. She sways and reaches to him 
her arms. As they move together 
DoEG and Merab appear, but vanish 
from the curtains as Michal utters 
dismay. 



DAVID 39 

Michal. Merab and Doeg! 

David (has sprung to her). Yet what matter, 
now ! 
Were it the driven night-unshrouded dead ! 
Under the firmament is but one need, 
That you will understand! 

Michal. But Merab ! ah, 

She's cunning, cold and cruel, and she loves thee; 
Hath told her love to Ahinoam the queen ! 
And Doeg hates thee — since for me he's mad ! 

David. Then be his hate as wild, as wide as 
winds 
That gather up the desert for their blast. 
Be it as Sheol deep, stronger than stars 
That fling fate on us, and I care not, care not. 
If I am trusted and to Michal truth ! — 
Hear, hear me ! for the kingdom, tho' 't may 

come, 
I yearn not ; but for you ! 

Michal. No, no ! 

David. For you! 



30 DAVID 

Since I a shepherd o'er a wild of hills 
First beheld you the daughter of the king 
Amid his servants, leaning, still with noon, 
Beautiful under a tamarisk, until 
All beauty else is dead 

Michal. Ah, cease ! 

David. Since then 

I have been wonder, ecstasy and dream ! 
The molded light and fragrant miracle. 
Body of you and soul, lifted me till 
When you departed 

Michal. No, you rend me ! 

David. I 

Fell thro' infinity of void ! 

Michal. No more ! 

David. Then came the prophet Samuel with 
anointing ! 
My hope sprung as the sun ! 

Michal. I must not hear ! 

David. Then was I called to play before the 
king. 



DAVID 31 

Here in this hall where cherubim shine out, 
Where the night silence 

Michal. David ! 

David." Strung me tense, 

I waited, shepherd-timid, and you came, 
You for the king to try my skill ! you, you ! — 
And then divinely on thro' days we swept, 
Far from the birth unto the bourne of bliss, 
Until to-night you would not, tho' bereft, 
Reveal my helpless chrism, give me to peril ! 
Say but the reason ! 

Michal. David ! 

David. Speak, O speak ! 

Michal. And shall I, shall I? how this proph- 
etess 
Miriam hath foretold 

David. Some wonder? speak! 

Michal (springs up the throne, then down). 
No, no ! horror in me moans out against it. 
Wed me with destiny against my father? 
Dethrone my mother ? Ah ! 



32 DAVID 

David. Not that — no wrong ! 

Michal. Then swear conspiracy upon its tide 
Never shall lift you ! 

David. Deeper than soul or sea. 
Deep as divinity is deep, I swear. 
If it shall come, the kingdom 

Michal. "If!" not "if." 

Surrender this anointing ! Spurn it, say 
You never will be king though Israel 
Kingless go mad for it ! 

David. I cannot. 

Michal. Guile ! 

David. I cannot — and I must not. It is holy ! 

Michal. Then must I hate you — scorn you — 

David. Michal ! 

Michal. And will. 

But to reign over Israel you care, 
Not for the peace of it ! 

David. Thus all is vain; 

A seething on the Hps, I'll say no more. . . . 
Care but to reign and not for Israel's calm? 



DAVID 33 

I who am wounded with her every wound? . . . 
Look out upon yon PhiHstine bold fires 
Lapping the night with bloody tongue — look out ! 

[A commotion is heard within. 

As God has swung the world and hung forever 
The infinite in awe, to-morrow night 
Not one of them shall burn ! 

Michal. And wherefore? 

David. None ! 

Michal. What is this strength ! It seizes on me ! 
No, 
I'll not believe; no, no, more than I would 
From a boy's breath or the mere sling you wear 
A multitude should flee ! And you shall learn 
A daughter to a father may be true 
Tho' paleness be her doom until she die ! 

[She turns to go. Enter Jonathan 
eagerly. 

Jonathan. David ! 



34 DAVID 

David. My friend — my Jonathan ! 'Tis you ? 

[They embrace. Michal goes. 

Jonathan. Great heart, I've heard how yester- 
day before 
The soldiers you . . . But Michal's gone? No 
word? 

David. The anointing. 

Jonathan. Ah, she knows? 

David. All. 

Jonathan. And disdains 

Believing? tell me. 

David. No, not now — not now. 

Let me forget it in a leap of deeds. 

[The commotion sounds again. 

For there is murmur misty of distress. 
What is it? sprung of the Philistines? new terror? 
This sounding giant flings again his foam? 
Jonathan, I am flame that will not wait. 
What is it? I must strike. 
Jonathan. David . . . 



DAVID 35 

David. Tell me, 

And do not bring dissuasion more, or pause. 

Jonathan. The king comes here. 

David. Now ? 

Jonathan. With a spy who keeps 

Fiercely to silence. 

David. Then is peril up ! 

Jonathan . . . ! 

Jonathan. David, you must cool from this. 
Determination surges you o'er-far. 
I will not see you rush on perishing, 
Not though it be the aid of Israel. 

David. I must. ... I will not let them ever 
throng. 
Staining the hills, and starving us from peace. 
Rather the last ray living in me, rather 
Death and the desecration of the worm. 
Bid me not back with love, nor plea ; I must ! 

Jonathan. But think 

David. No thought ! 

Jonathan. 'Twere futile 



36 DAVID 

David. Hear ; the king ! 

Jonafhan. The madness of it ! 
David. No, and see; they come. 

Jonathan. Strangely my father is unstrung. 
David {unchangeably). They come ! 

[Enter Saul zvith Samuel; Soldiers zvith 
the spy; Ahinoam with Abner; and 
all the court in suppressed dread. 

Soul (to Samuel). He will not speak, but 
scorns me, and his lips 
Bitterly curve and grapple. But he shall 
Learn there is torture to it ! Set him forth. 

[The Spy is thrust forward. 

Tighten his bonds up till he moan. 

[It is done. 

Aye, gasp, 
Accursed Philistine ! Now wilt thou tell 
The plan and passion of thy people 'gainst us? 
Spy. Baal ! 



DAVID 37 

Smtl. Tighten the torture more. . . . Now will 

you? 
Spy (in agony). Yea! 
Saul. On, then, reveal. 

Spy. New forces have arrived, 

Numberless; more than peaks of Arabah. 

[General movement of uneasiness. 
Unless before to-morrow's noon one goes 
To overthrow Goliath . . . Gods ! the pain ! 
Saul. Well? Well? 

Spy. Then Gibeah attacked, and all, 

Even to sucking babes, they'll put to sword! 

[A movement of horror. 
Ahinoam. All Gibeah ! 
A Woman. My little ones ? No, no ! 

IShe rushes frantically out. 
Samuel. Then, Saul of Gibeah, one thing and 
one 
Alone is to be done. A champion, 
To break this beetling giant down to death ! 



38 DAVID 

Saul. There is none. 

Samuel. Is none ! Call ! I order it. 

Saul. Then who will dare against him ! 

[A silence. 

See you now. 

Samuel. You, Abner, will not? 

Ahner. It were death and vain. 

Samuel. Doeg, chief servant of the king? 

Doeg. Why me? 

Had I a mother out of Israel? 
I am an alien, an Edomite. 

David. My lord, this is no more endurable ! 

{^Steps forth. 

Futile and death? Alien? Edomite? 
Has not this Philistine before the gates, 
With insult and illimitable breath, 
Vaunting of vanity and smiting laughter, 
Boasted and braved and threatened up to Baal? 
And now unless one slay him, Israel 



DAVID 39 

From babe to age must bleed and be no more? 
I am a shepherd, have but seized the lion 
And throttled the bleating kid out of his throat; 
Little it then beseems that I thrust in 
Where battle captains pale and falter off; 
But this is past all carp of rank or station. 
One must go out — Goliath must have end. 

Doeg. Ah, ah ! and you will ! 

Ishiii. You? 

Jonathan. No, David ! 

Saul. You? 

David. Sudden you hound about me ravenous? 
Have I thrown doom not daring to your feet, 
Ruler of Israel, that you rise wild, 
Livid above me as an avalanche ? 

Doeg. A plot ! it is a plot ! He will be slain — 
From you, my lord, dominion then will fall ! 
Or should it not . . . 

Samuel. Liar ! it is no plot. 

But courage sprung seraphic out of night, 
Beautiful, yea, a bravery from God ! 



40 DAVID 

Michal (behind the throng). Open! and let me 
enter ! Open ! 

IShe enters. 

Father ! 
It is not false? but now the uttermost 
Is that if this Goliath still exult, 
There's peril of desolation, bloody ruin? 

Samuel. I answer for him; yea. 

Michal. Then to your will, 

Father, unto will of yesterday 
I bend me now with sacrificial joy. 
Unto Goliath's slayer is the hand 
Of Michal, the king's daughter ! 

David (joyously). Michal! Michal! 

Doeg. See you, my lord? Do you not under- 
stand? 

Ishui. It is another coiling of their plot ! 

Michal. Coiling of plot? What mean you? 

Merab. Ah ! You know 

Not it is David offers against Goliath? 



DAVID 41 

Michal. David? (Shrinking.) David? 

lA low tumult is heard without. Enter a 
Captain hurriedly. 

Captain. O King, bid me to speak ! 

Saul. Then speak ! 

Captain. Fear is upon the host. There will 

Be mutiny unless, Goliath slain, 
Courage spring up anew. 

David. My lord, then, choose ! 

Ere longer waiting fester to disaster. 

Samuel. Yea, king of Gibeah, and bid him 
go, 
And Michal for his meed! or evermore 
Evil be on you and the sear of shame — 
And haunting memory beyond the tomb ! 

Saul. Then let him — let him. And upon the 
field 
Of Ephes-Dammin. But I am not Wind ! 
{To Abner.) Let him, to-morrow! Go prepare 
the host. 



42 DAVID 

Yet — I am king, remember ! I am king ! 

[Saul goes; murmurs of relief . . . All 
follow, hut MiCHAL, past David with 
joy or hate. 
David. Michal ! 

l^She struggles against tears, hut, turning, 

goes. He stands and gases after her. 

Then a trumpet sounds and soldiers 

throng to the porch. 

David (thrilled, his hand on his sling). For 

Israel ! For Israel ! 

\_Goes toward them. 



Curtain 



ACT II 



ACT II 

Scene: The royal tent of Saul pitched on one hill 
of the battle£eld of Ephes-Dammin. The tent 
is of black embroidered with various warlike 
designs. To one side on a dais are the chairs 
of Saul and Ahinoam; also David's harp. 
On the other side, toward the front, is a table 
with weapons. The tent wall is lifted along 
the back, revealing on the opposite hill, across 
a deep narrow valley, the routed camp of the 
Philistines ; before it in gleaming brazen armor 
lies Goliath slain. Other hills beyond, and the 
sky above. By the small table, her back to the 
battlefield, sits Merab in cold anger. Ahi- 
noam and several zvomen look out in ecstasy 
toward David, Saul, Jonathan, and the army, 
returning victorious, and shouting. 

First Woman. See, see, at last ! 
Second Woman. They come ! 



46 DAVID 

Third Woman. An avalanche ! 

Over the brook and bright amid hosannas ! 
Second Woman. And now amid the rushes ! 
First Woman. And the servants ! 

Goliath's head high-borne upon a charger ! 
The rocks that cry reverberant and vast! 
The people and the palms ! 

Third Woman. Yea, all the branches 

Torn from the trees ! The waving of them — O ! 
Second Woman. And David, see ! triumphant, 
calm, between 
The king and Jonathan ! . . . His glory- 
All the wild generations of the wind 
Ever shall utter! Hear them — 

IThe tumult ascends afar. 
" David ! David ! " 
O queen ! a sea of shouting ! 

Ahinoam. Which you crave? 

Then go and lave you in this tide of joy. 

[The women go rapturously. Ahinoam 
turns. 



DAVID 47 

Merah. Mother ! 

Ahinoam. My daughter? 

Merah. Speak. 

Ahinoam. They all are gone. 

Merah. And Michal, where? 

Ahinoam. I do not know, my child. 

Merah. Why did my father pledge her to him? 
you 
Not hindering? 

Ahinoam. She is your sister. You 

Are pledged to Adriel. 

Merah. And as a slave ! 

And if I do not love him there is — riches ! 
If he is Sodom-bitter to me — riches ! 

Ahinoam. But for the kingdom. 

Merah. For my torture ! What 

Kingdom is to a woman as her love? 

Ahinoam. Then David still enthralls you? 

Merah. Though he never 

Sought me with any murmur or desire ! 



48 DAVID 

Though he is Michal's for Goliath's death ! 

Michal's to-day, unless 

Ahinoam. Merab, a care ! 

Too near in you were ever love and hate. 

[The tumult nears. Ahinoam goes to look 
out. DoEG enters to Merab. 

Doeg (low). News, Merab! 

Merab. Well? 

Doeg. A triumph for us, yet ! 

The king is worn, as a leper pent, between 
Wonder of David and quick jealousy 
Because of praise this whelming of Goliath 
Wakes in the people. 

Merab. Then? the triumph? 

Doeg. This. 

{The tumult, nearer. 

I've skillfully disposed the women 

To coldly sing of Saul, but of our David — 

[Watches her. 
With lavish of ecstasy as to a king. 



DAVID 49 

Merab {springing up). Then / will praise him! 
Doeg. David? you? 

Merab. As he 

Was never — and shall never be again. 

\Takes a dagger. 

Doeg. But 

Merab. Give me the vial. 

Doeg. The poison? 

Merab. Come — at once ! 

Doeg. What will you do? 

Merab (seises vial). At once with it. 

[Dips dagger in. 

Doeg. You'll stab him? 

Merab. As any fool ? Wait. And the rest now, 
quick. 

This timbrel player, Judith? is she ready? 

Doeg. And ravishing. I've told her we shall 
send her 
Sudden, as Michal is alone with David, 



so DAVID 

To seize him with insinuative kisses, 

And arms that wind as they were wonted to him. 

Michal once jealous — and already I 

Have sowed suspicions 

[Laughs. 

Merab. May it be their rending. 

[The tumult near. 
But come, come, we must see; and show no frown. 

[They go to look out. Shouts of "David! 
David!" arise, and timbrelers, dancing 
and singing, pass the tent opening; 
then priests with the Ark and its 
cherubim of gold. David, Saul, 
Jonathan, Ishui, and the court then 
enter amid acclamations. Before 
them the head of Goliath is borne on 
a charger, under a napkin. Saul 
darkly mounts the throne with Ahi- 
NOAM, to waving of palms and praise. 



DAVID 51 

A Woman {breaking from the throng). Our 
little ones are saved ! Hosanna ! joy ! 

l^She kisses David's hand. 
Jonathan. Woman, thy tongue should know an 
angel-word, 
Or seraph syllables new-sung to God ! 
Earth has not any rapture well for this ! 
David, my brother ! 

David. Jonathan, my friend! 

While life has any love, know mine for you, 
Jonathan. Then am I friended as no man was 
ever! 
And though my soul were morning wide it were 
Helpless to hold my wonder and delight ! 
O people, look upon him ! 
People. David ! David ! 

Jonathan. Never before in Israel rose beauty 
Up to this glory ! 

David. Jonathan, nay 

Jonathan. Never ! 

[Looses his robe and girdle. 



52 DAVID 

Therefore I pour him splendor passionate. 

In gold and purple, this my own, I clothe him. 

David, my brother ! 

People. David ! David ! David ! 

Saul {rising up livid). Am I to stifle, full-of- 
lauding fools ! 
Of breath and ravishment unceasing ! 

Ahinoam. Saul ! 

Saul. Is it not praise enough, has he not reached 
The skies on it? 

David. O king, my lord 

Saul. Had Saul 

Ever so rich a rapture from his son? 
Ever this worshiping of utterance? 

David. My lord, my lord, this should not fret 
you. 

Doeg ( derisively ) . N ay ! 

David. 'Tis only that the soul of Jonathan, 
Brimmed by the Philistines with bitterness. 
Sudden is joy and overfloweth 

Doeg. Fast 



DAVID 53 

David. Upon his friend, thy servant, David. 

Doeg. Aie ! 

\^He turns azvay laughing. 

Saul. Why do you laugh ? 

Doeg. " Thy servant David ! " 

Saul (more darkly). Why! 

A Woman {without). King Saul has slain his 
thousands ! 

Doeg. 0-ho-ho ! 

Woman. But David his ten thousands ! 

Doeg. Do you hear? 

King Saul has slain his thousands, David ten ! 
Thy servant, is he? servant? 

David. Yea, O king! . . . 

Therefore be wielded by no venom-word, 
As a weed under the wind ! 

Saul. 'Tis overmuch ! 

I'll burst all bond of priest or prophecy. 
Nor cringe to threatening and fondle fear. 

[He seises a javelin. 
ril smite where'er I will. 



54 DAVID 

David. No ! 

Jonathan. Father ! 

David. No ! 

For rapid palsy would come on thy hand, 
Awful and scepter-ruined lord of men, 
An impotence, a shriveling with fear, 
Avenging ere thou shed olfenseless blood ! 

[Saul's hand drops. 
Is this thy love, the love of Saul the king, 
Who once was kindlier than kindest are? 
For but a woman's wantonness of word 
And idle air, my life? 
Ahinoam. Saul, Saul ! 

Jonathan. O shame ! 

David. Some enemy — does Doeg curve his 
lip?— 
Hath put into her mouth this stratagem 
Of fevered, false-impassioned overpraise. 

[Saul, tortured, sweeps from the tent, en- 
treated of Jonathan. Many follow 
in doubt, whispering. 



DAVID 55 

Doeg {at door, to David). This is not all, boy 
out of Bethlehem. 

Goliath's dead 

David. But not all villainy? 

{^Only MiCHAL and Merab arc left. 
David waits. 

Merab (at length, as if loathly). A shame it is! 
I burn for it myself! 
Burn, heart and brain ! 

David. For what, and suddenly? 

Merab. My father so ungenerously wroth ! 
And wrought away from recompense so right. 
Can you forgive him? 

David. Merab ? 

Merab. Is it strange 

That even / now ask it? 

David. Merab's self? 

Merab. Herself and not to-day your friend; but 
now 
Conquered to exultation and aglow 



S6 DAVID 

To wreathe you for this might to Israel, 
Beautiful, unbelievable and bright ! 
Noble the dawn of it was in your dream. 
Noble the lightning of it in your arm, 
And noble in your veins the fearless flow 
And dare of blood ! — so noble that I ask 
As a remembrance and bequest forever, 
In priceless covenant of peace between us, 

A drop of it 

[She draws dagger and offers it to him. 
Upon this sacred blade . . . 
David. Such kindness? and such honor? 
Merab. Poor requital 

To one whose greatness humbles me from hate. 
David (slowly). Then of my veins whatever 
drop you will. 
But, no . . . (Pauses.) You do not mock me? 
Merab. With high truth? 

' I crave it more than holy, priceless nard. 

David. Or perfume out of India jewel poured? 
IHe searches her eyes. 



DAVID 57 

Or than — I may believe? — a miracle 

Of dew, were you a traveler upon 

The illimitable desert's thirst? Or than — 

• \_He draws his own dagger, pricks his 
wrist, and hands it her. 

Than this? 

Merab. Shepherd ! 

David (quickly). Treachery, treachery, then? 
Under a sham of tribute poison? 

Michal. Merab ! 

David. And I of vanity should prick it in? 
I a mere shepherd innocent of wile? 
A singer from the shearing and no more? . . . 
The daughter of King Saul has yet to learn. 

l^She goes. He turns to Michal. 

But you, fairest of all my hopes, what word ! 
The vaunting of this victory is done. 
We are alone at last. 

Michal. Yes. 

David. That is all? . . . 



58 DAVID 

For Israel I've wrought to-day — and for 

You . . . who were round about me as a mist 

Of armed mighty angels triumphing. 

Michal. Yes: It was well. 

David. To you no more? to you 

Whom not a slave can serve unhonored? 

Michal (struggling). Nothing. 

David. Empty of glow then seems it, impotent, 
A shriveled hallowing . . . 
Ashes of ecstasy that burned in vain. 

Michal. No, no ! I 

David. Michal ? 

Michal. No, divine it was ! 

And had I cried my praise the ground had broke 
To Eden under me with blossoming. 
Where was so wonderful a deed as this, 
So fair a springing of salvation up? 
Glory above the heavens could I seize. 
Wreathing of dawn and loveliness unfading, 
To crown you with and crown ! 

David. O lips ! 



DAVID 59 

Michal, With but 

A sling, a shepherd's sling, you sped the brook, 
Drew from its bed a stone, and up the hill 
Where "the great Philistine contemning cried. 
Mounted and flung it deep upon his brain ! 

David. This is the victory and not his death ! 
Tell, tell thy joy with kisses on my lips ! 
Thy mouth ! thy arms ! thy breast ! 

Michal. No, no ! 

David. Thy soul ! 

[Clasps her. 

Too much of waiting and of severance. 
Of dread and distance and the deep of doubt! 
Now must I fold you, falter all my love 
And triumph on your senses till they burn 
Beautiful as eternity with bliss. 

Michal. Loose, loose me ! 

David. Nay, again ! immortal kisses ! 

Michal. A frenzy, 'tis a frenzy ! Let me free ! — 
This irremediable victory 



6o DAVID 

Over Goliath severs us the more. 

l^The tumult, again, afar. 

Hear how the people hft you limitless ! 
Almost to-day and in my father's stead 
They would that you were king. 

David, But ere to-morrow 

Dim shall I be, and ere the harvest bend 
Less than a gleam in their forgotten peril ! 

Michal. O were it, were it ! But all silently 
Jehovah fast is beckoning the realm 
Into thy hands. 

David. Then vainly we resist 

The gliding on of firm divinity. 
And yet whatever may be shall be done. 

Michal All, all? 

David. That for thee reverently may. 

Michal. The anointing then shall be forgot? 

David. Michal ! 

Michal. It may be told my father? and I may 
Say to him all the secret? 



DAVID 6i 

David. And provoke 

Murder in him, insa4;iable though 
I fled upon the wilderness and famine? 

Michal, He would not! 

David. Nay. 

Michal. I'll plead with him. 

David. In vain. 

Michal {coldly). Then ... it is as I thought. 

David. You are distraught. 

Michal. This stroke to-day {pointing to Goli- 
ath's head) no love of me had in it. 

David. A love, a passion fervid through me as 
The tread and tremble of seraphic song 
Along the infinite. 

Michal. You use me ! 

David. Use ? 

Midhal. A step to rise and riot in ambition ! 

David. So bitter are you, blind? even in 
all? 

Michal. You snared me to you ! 

David. Michal ! 



62 DAVID 

Michal. Cunningly 

With Samuel netted fears about my father, 
Till I am paltrily unto you pledged. 

David. Enough. 

Michal. Too much. 

David. No more : the pledge I fling 

Out of my heart, as 'twere enchantment dead, 
And free you; but no more. 

IHe moves from her. 

Michal. As if it were 

Enchantment dead ... Ah then 'tis true — there is 
Another — is another ! 

David. Now, what fever? 

A gentleness clad once your every grace. 

Michal. There is some other that you lure and 
love. 

David. It is not Michal speaking; so I wait. 

Michal. Then you will learn . . . 

[Judith glides in. 
Who's that? {to her). Why are you here? 



DAVID 63 

Judith (to David, with a laugh, as if with amor- 
ous joy). Brave, it was brave, my love ! beau- 
teous ! brave ! 

[Goes to him. 
David. Woman ? 

Judith. The Philistine, a brazen tower, 

A bastion of strength, fell to the earth ! 

David. Woman, who are you? . . . Take away 

your flesh ! 

[She has clasped him. 

Take it away, the heat and myrrh of it. 

Judith. So cold are you? It is no longer fair? 
(Wantonly.) Oh! Ah ! I understand! the prin- 
cess ! Oh ! 

[Goes laughing and shaking her timbrel 
wickedly. 
Michal. A dancer, then, a very timbrel-player ! 
David. Until this hour I never looked upon her. 
It is chicanery of chance or craft. 
You who are noble, though in doubt adrift. 
Be noble now ! 



64 DAVID 

Michal. And loving? Oh, I will — 

Now that I know what should be done. Be sure ! 
David. Michal ! 

Michal. Now that I know what should 

be done ! 

[Sweeps out. He understands and sinks to 
a seat. 

[Ahinoam enters. 
Ahinoam. David, the king. . . . But what is 

this ? 
David. O queen . . . 

It is but life. 
Ahinoam. Nay. 

David. Life that ever strings 

Our hearts, so pitifully prone for it. 
To ecstasy — then snaps. 
Ahinoam. I love thee, David. 

David. Then gracious be, and question here no 
more, 
Where words are futile for an utterance. 
But tell on of the king. 



DAVID 65 

Ahinoam. He's driven still. 

And hither comes again, and must be calmed. 
Your harp take you, and winds of beauty bring, 
And consolation, as of valley eves 
When there is ebb of sorrow and of toil. 
Oh, could you heal him and forever heal ! 

David. Then would I be ! 

[Breaks off with great desire. Takes the 

harp and seats himself. 

Ahinoam. At once, for he will come. 

[A strain of wild sadness brings Saul, 

and many, within. He pauses, his 

hand to his brow, enspelled of the 

playing: then slowly goes up the dais. 

Ahinoam. My lord, shall David sing — to ease 

us? 
Saul. Let him. 

David (with high sorrow). 
O heart of woe. 
Heart of unrest and broken as a reed! 

[Plays. 



66 DAVID 

O heart whose flow 
Is anguish and all bitterness of need ! 

[Plays. 

O heart as a roe, 
Heart as a hind upon the mountain fleeing 

The arrow-wounds of being, 
Be still, O heart, and rest and do not bleed ! 

[Plays longer with bowed head. 

O days of life, 

Days that are driven swift and wild from the 

womb ! 

[Plays. 

O days so rife — 
Days that are torn of trouble, trod of doom ! 

[Plays. MiCHAL enters. 

O days of strife — 
Days of desire on deserts spread unending, 

The burning blue o'erbending, 
O days, our peace, our victory is the tomb ! 

[He plays to a close that dies in anguished 
silence. 



DAVID 67 

Saul (rising in tears). David! 

David. My lord ? 

Saul. Thy song is beauteous ! 

Stilling to sorrow ! . . . Oh, my friend, my son ! 

David. To me is this? I do not dream? The 
king 
Again is kind, and soft his spirit moves? 

Saul. To you ! 

David. How shelter o'er me then will spring, 
And safety, covering ! 

Saul. It ever shall. 

Loveliest have you been among my days. 
And singing weary madness from my brain. 

[MiCHAL starts forward. 

How I have wronged thee ! 

Michal. Wronged him? (in fury). 

David. Michal ! 

Saul. Girl ? 

Michal. You have not wronged him ! 

David. Michal ! 



68 DAVID 

Michal. No! but he 

Is jeopardy and fate about you ! drive 
Him from you utterly and now away ! 

^Murmurs of astonishwent. 

Saul. What mean you? 

Ishui. Speak. 

Saul. What mean you? 

Michal, This ! 

David. No word ! 

Michal. I'll not be kept ! 

David. But shall be; for to tell 

Would rend silence forever from you — pale 
Your flesh with haunting of it evermore ! 
All, all your being would become a hiss, 
A memory of syllables that sear, 
A living iteration of remorse. 
I — I myself will save your lips the words 
Of this betrayal leaping from your heart. 

[Goes nobly to Saul. 
You seek, my lord . . . you seek whom Samuel 
Anointed. 



DAVID 69 

Said. Yes. 

David. Then know that it is I. 

[Consternation. 
Saul. You ! 

David. Guiltless I, no other ! . . . 

[Saul seizes a javelin. 
I, though I sought it not and suffer, though — 
I would it had not come and fast am sworn 

Never against you to lift up 

Merah. Hear, hear ! 

Now he will cozen ! 
Doeg. He, " thy servant ! " 

Ishui. Hear ! 

[Goliath's head is upset. 
A Voice. A thousand Saul hath slain ! but David 

ten! 
Satd (choking). Omnipotence shall not with- 
hold me more. 

[Lifts javelin. 
Die, die ! 
Jonathan. No, father . . . hold! 



70 DAVID 

Michal {as Saul flings). What have I done? 

IReels. 
Jonathan. David, unhurt? Away, the wilder- 
ness! 
Saul (with another javelin). He shall not, no! 
David. Then (aiiame) king of Israel — !• 

[Rushes up throne. 
Murderous king, afoam with murder-heat, 
Strike me to darkness and the waiting worm ! — 
But after be your every breathing blood I 
Remorse and riving bitterness and fear ! 
Be guilt and all the hideous choke of horror ! 

[Saul trembling cowers, the javelin fall- 
ing from him. David breaks through 
DoEG and Ishui and escapes by the 
door. Michal sinks to her knees, her 
face buried in her hands. 

Curtain 



ACT III 



ACT III 

Scene: A savage mountain cliff in the wilderness 
of Engeddi. On either side gray crags rise 
rugged, sinking away precipitously across the 
hack. Cut into each is a cave. The height is 
reached by clefts from all sides. Between the 
crags to the East is the far blue of the Dead 
Sea; and still beyond, bathed in the waning 
afternoon, stretch the purple shores of Moab. 
During the act the scene grows crimson zvith 
sunset and a thundercloud arises over the sea. 
Lying on a pallet of skins near the cliff's verge, 
David tosses feverishly. Three of his follow- 
ers and a lad, who serves him, are gathered 
toward the front, ragged, hungry, and hunted, 
in altercation over a barley cake. 

David. Water ! the fever fills me, and I thirst. 
Water ! 



74 DAVID 

First Fol. Listen. 

Second Fol. He calls. 

David. Water ! I thirst. 

The Lad. Yes, yes, my lord. ( Takes up a water 
skin.) Ah, empty, not a quaff! 
They've drunk it all from him ! My lord, none's 

left. 
I'll run and in the valley brim it soon. 

{^He goes. David sinks hack. 

Second Fol. {to First). You drank it, then. 

First Fol. And should I thirst, not he? 

Give me the bread. 

Second Fol. If it would strangle you. 

First Fol. I'll have it. 

Second Fol. Or betray him? spitingly? 

It is the last. Already you have eat. 
And we are here within a wilderness. 

First Fol. Be it, but I'll not starve. 

Third Fol. He utters right. 

Why should we but to follow a mere shepherd 
Famish — over a hundred desert hills? 



DAVID 75 

The prophecy portending him the throne — 
Is folly, not fate ! though it is Samuel's. 
I'll trust in it no more. 

First FoL Nor I. 

Third Fol. And Saul 

Has driven us from waste to waste — pressed us 
Even unto the Philistines for shelter, 
And now unto this crag. And is not David's 
Thought but of Michal, not of smiting him 
And, with a host, of leaping to the kingdom? 

[David stirs to rise. 

First FoL He moves ; peace ! 

Third Fol. Let him. 

Second Fol. Peace. 

Third Fol. And fawning too? 

David (sufferingly). Men — men, we must have 
news. Perpetual, 
Implacable they stare unto each other, 
This rock and stony sky. . . . We must have news. 
[^Rises and comes down to them. They 
are silent. 



76 DAVID 

Longer is death. 'Tis over many days 
Of sighing — and remembered verdancy; 
Nor does the dew come here or odor up. 
Who will go now and bring us word of Saul? 

Third Fol. Have not Abishai, Abiathar, 
And others gone? 

David. Bravely. 

Third Fol. And none returned! 

David. Not one of all. 

Third Fol. Well, then, we are not swine; 
And life's but once. ... So we will follow you 
No longer hungered and rewarded never. 
But perilously ever. 

David, It is well. 

IHe looses a bracelet from his arm. 

This was a gift from Saul. In it is ease. 

iGives it Third Follower, who goes. 

This ring was Jonathan's. The jewel tells 
Still of the sunny haven of his heart. 



DAVID 77 

Upon my hand he pressed it — the day we leapt 
Deeper than friends into each other's love. 

[Gives it to First, who goes. 
This chain 

Second Fol. I want it not. 

David. You have not thought; 

'Tis riches — such as Sidon marts and Tyre 
Would covet. 

Second Fol. I care not. 

David. None else is left. 

Second Fol. No matter. I but want . . . There 
was of Gibeah 
A woman — dear to me. Her face at night . . . 
Weeping among my dreams. . . . 

The prophecy 
Is unfulfilled and vain! 

David. And you would go? 

Second Fol. The suffering — this cliff. 

David. I understand. 

(Motions.) So, without any blame, go — to content. 

\_The Second, faltering, goes. 



78 DAVID 

(Quietly.) A desolation left, of rock and air, 

Of barren sea and bitterness as vast. 

Thou hast bereft me, Saul ! . . . and Michal, thou ! 

[He moves up cliff, gases off, then kneels 
as to pray. 

My flesh cries for oblivion — to sink 
Unwaking away into the night . . . w^here is 
No tears, but only tides of sleep. . . . 

No, crieth 
Not for oblivion and night, but for 
Rage and revenge ! Saul ! Saul ! . . . My spirit, 

peace. 
I must revenge's call within me quell 
Though righteously it quivers and aflame. 
As pants the hart for the water-brook, so I ! 

\_He bows his head. . . . Michal enters in 
rags with the lad. She sees David 
rise and wander into cave, right. 

Michal. This is the place, then, this? 

Lad. Yes, princess. 



DAVID 79 

Michal. Here 

So long in want and sickness he hath hid? 
Under the Hvid day and lonelier night? 

Lad. I brought him water, often. 

Michal Little lad! 

But he has heard no word from me? — not how 
My father, Saul, frantic of my repentance. 
Had unto Phalti, a new lord, betrothed me? 
How then I fled to win unto these wilds? 

Lad. He heard not anything — only the tales 
I told of Moab, my own land. . . , But, oh ! 

[David plays within. 

It is his harp. 

'Michal. And strains that weep o'er me ! . . . 
ril speak to him . . . and yet must be unknown ! 
A leper? as a leper could I . . .? 

Lad, Why 

Must he not know you? 

Michal. Ask me not, lad, now; 

But go a little. 



8o DAVID 

Lad, Yes. 

[He sets dozvn the water skin mid goes. 

Michal {delaying, then in a loud voice). Un- 
clean ! Unclean ! 

[Conceals her face in her hair. 

David. Who crieth here? 

Michal. Unclean ! 

David {appearing). Who cries unclean? 

Poor leper in these wilds, who art thou? 

Michal. One 

Outcast and faint, forlorn ! 

David. Then you have come 

To one more bitter outcast than yourself — 
One who has less than this lone void to give. 
This sterile solitude and sun, this scene 
Of leaden desolation that makes mad; 
Who has no ease but cave or shading rock. 
Or the still moon, or stars that glide the night. 
One over whom 

Michal. Yet, pity ! 

David. The pale hours 



DAVID 8i 

Flow dead into eternity. 

Michal. Ah, yet . . . ! 

David. My cloak, then, for thy tattered limbs. 
Or, no — 
This chain of Ophir for thy every need. 
Once it was dear, but should be so no more. 
(Flinging it to her.) Have it, and with it vanish 

memory 
Out of my breast 

Michal. No, no. 

David. And from me fall 

Link upon link her loveliness that bound. 

Michal. Oh, do not ! 

David. Woman . . .? 

'Michal. Nothing. A chain like this 

I once beheld wind undulantly bright 
O'er Michal the king's daughter. 

David. Woman, the king's? 

Michal. Pity ! 

David. Who are you? 

Michal. Stay ! Unclean ! 



82 DAVID 

David. A spy? 

A spy of Saul and hypocrite have crept 
Hither to learn . . .? 

Michal. Have heed — unclean! 

David. How, then 

Wandering came you here? 

Michal. Unclean ! Unclean ! 

David. My brain is overfull of fever, mad. 
Almost and I had touched thy peril, held 
Thy hideous contagion. 

Michal, Nay ! 

David. Then who 

Art thou to know and speak of her, of Michal? 

Michal. One who has served the king. 

David. And you have seen 

Michal, you have beheld her ? 

Michal. Once, when she 

In face was fairer and in heart than now 
They say she is. 

David. And heard her speak? 



DAVID 83 

Michal. A night 

Under the leaves of Gibeah — when she 
Sang with another — David. 

David'. Say no more. 

Michal. And from afar, under the moon, blew 
faint 
The treading of the wine-presses with song. 
David she loved, but anger-torn betrayed. 
Unworthy of him. 

David. Speak of her no more, 

Nor of her cruelty, unless to pray 
He she has ruined may forget her. 

Michal. Yet 

If deep she should repent? — if deep she should? 

\_A cry interrupts. They start. 

David. A jackal? (Listens.) No, the signal! 
Word at last! 
(To Michal.) He who is near may prove to thee 
less kind. 

[She goes. He leaps up the cliff. 



84 DAVID 

Abishai? Abiathar? ... It is ! 

But staggering and wounded? breathless? torn? 

The priest with bloody ephod, too, and wild? 

^Watching, then springing to meet them 
as they reel in. 
Abishai, what is it that you bring? 
Abiathar, up ! answer ! 

Abiathar. Water ! 

David. Up ! 

[He brings the water skin. They drain it 
fiercely. 
What is it now so fevered from you stares, 
And breathing, too, abhorrence? Gasp it out. 
'Abiathar. I stifle — in a universe — ^he still — 
Has breath in. 
David. Saul ? 

Abiathar. Ill scathe him ! Scorpions 

Of terror and remorse sting in his soul ! 
David. If you have tidings, tell in words less 

wild. 
Abiathar. Then ask, and hate shall calm me. 



DAVID 85 

David. Ask ? 

Abiathar. On, on ! 

Seek if he lives ! 

David. Who ? 

Abiathar. Seek if prophecy 

Founts yet in Judah ! 

David. Samuel . . .? 

Abiathar. Is dead ! 

Dead — and of tidings more calamitous. 

lA pause. 

David (hoarsely). Tell on. I hear. 

Abiathar. Saul gloating to believe 
The priests who gathered sacredly at Nob, 
Plotted assisting you, hath had them 

David. No ... ! 

Abiathar. Slain at the hands of Doeg — mur- 
dered, all ! 

David. But he — your father? 

Abiathar. Was among them; fell. 

[^He stands motionless. 



86 DAVID 

David (gently). Abiathar, my friend! . . . Ap- 
peaseless Saul ! 

Abiathar. Hear all, hear all ! Thy father, too, 
and mother, 
Even thy kindred, out of Israel 
Are driven into Moab; and this king, 
Delirious still for blood as desert pards. 
With Merab, whelp of him, and many armed, 
Is near us now — a-quiver at Engeddi 
For your destruction: 

[David struggles for control. 

And yet you will not strike. 
David (low). No, but of Michal, tell me good 
at once, 

Lest unendurable this lot, I may 

Mounting o'er every oath into revenge. 
Abiathar. Ha — Michal ! 

David. She withholds her father's wrath ? 

Abiathar. She's well. 
David, Not if you say no more. 



DAVID 87 

Abiathar, I know 

Nothing of her. 

David. Your look belies. 

Abiathar. Perhaps: 

As did her love. 

David. That is for me. 

Abiathar. Well, what? 

A woman who betrays? 

David. Speak, not evade; 

And judge her when earth has no mystery. 

Abiathar. Then from your craving put her — 
wide; she is 
Unworthy any tremor of your veins. 

David. Dawn-lilies under dew are then un- 
worthy. 
And nesting doves are horrible to heaven. 
I will not so believe. Your reason? 

Abiathar. Saul 

Has given her — and she will wed him, aye — 
To Phalti, a new lord. 

David. Untrue of her! 



88 DAVID 

Abiathar. Cry. Yet you will believe it. 

David. Not until 

The parable of verdant Spring is hushed 
Ever of bloom, to prove it. Never till 
Hermon is swung into the sea! until 
The last void of the everlasting sky 

ILooking up, he falters, breaks off, and is 
strangely moved. 

Abiathar. Now what alarm? 



Abishai. 


What stare you on? 


Abiathar. 


He's mad? 




[Then, suddenly seeing. 


o, no ! ... an eaglet ! 


. . . Pierct! . . . 


David (watching). 


And falling here. . . . 



And beating against death unbuoyantly. 

[The bird drops at their feet. 

A destiny, a fate in this is hidden ! 

[Bends to it. 
Abiathar. And — why ? 



DAVID 89 

David (starts back). The arrow is his! his, and 
no other's ! 
Quick, no delay. Efface all trace of us. 

\_Takes water skin. 

Abiathar. But how? be clear. 

David. We are discovered — near 

On us is death. Open the secret chamber 
Within the cave, for from the bow of Saul 
Is yonder bleeding — from no other. 

Abiathar. Saul's? 

So soon ! was any here ? 

David. To-day, to-day. 

A leper wandering. 

Abiathar. We are betrayed. 

[Abishai hastes to cave, right, David and 
Abiathar listen. Noise of approach 
is heard. 

David. They near. 

Abiathar. And many. 



go DAVID 

David, King of Israel ! 

Inexorable ! 

Abiathar. O, rebuke him, do ! 

David. Almost I am beyond this tolerance. 

Abiathar. In truth. Therefore it is you rise 
and shake 
Out of his power the scepter! 

David. Tempt me not ! 

Mercy and memory almost are dead, 
And craving birth in me is fateful ire. 

{They follow into the cave: but hardly 
have done so when, at a shout, pour 
in Saul and his men, bloodthirstily, 
from all sides, Doeg and Abner lead- 
ing. 

Saul. On, to him ! search the caves ! in, in, and 
bring 
Him to my sword and Michal with him. 
(Pacing.) They 

Shall couch upon eternity and dust. 



DAVID 91 

(Weakly.) I am the king and Israel is mine. . . . 
I'll sleep upon their grave, I'll sleep upon it, 
And hear the worm. . . . ! 

[To a soldier reentering from one cave. 

Where is he? Bring him. 
Soldier. O king — 

Saul. You've slain him and you tremble ! Say 

it. 
Soldier. No. 

Saul. Then hither with him ; hither ! 
Soldier. He's not here. 

Saul. A treachery ! You cunningly contrive 
To aid him, so. . . . 

[To a soldier from the other cave. 

Bring me his head. 

Soldier (fearfully). My lord. 

He is not there. . . . 

Saul. I tell you it is lies — 

Because you deem that he shall be the king, 



92 DAVID 

And treasure up reward and amnesty. 

IRushes wildly to caves in turn, then out 
among them. 
From me ill-fruited, ineffectual herd ! 
Away from me, he's fled and none of you 
Is servant and will find and for me seize him ! 

[They scatter. 
From me — I'll sleep — I'll rest — and then — 

\_As they go. 

I'll sleep. 

[Abner and Doeg remain. Saul enters 

cave, left. 

Abner {to Doeg, significantly). The Evil Spirit, 

and none is here to heal him. 
Doeg. It came as never before — as drunken- 
ness. 
Abner. Then — safe to leave him? 
Doeg. Will he brook denial? 

Abner. And Merab, too, will soon be here. 
Doeg. Well, come. 



DAVID 93 

Abner. I'll go and look upon him. 

[Goes. 

(Returning.) Already he sleeps. 

So we may seek us water; (then suddenly) no, 
abide ! 

\_Is held by Michal entering. 

Woman, who are you, who? 

Michal (quaking). Unclean! away! 

Doeg. Unclean? a leper? in this place? Are 
there 
No stones to stone you? Hence! And had I not 
A brother such as thou 

Michal. Pity ! Unclean ! 

\_She quickly goes, then they. A space; 
then she returns, trembling and fear- 
ful. 

I'll call him ! I will save him ! David ! David ! — 
I his discomfiture and ruin ! — David ! 

[Searches. 



94 DAVID 

Hear, David ! hear me ! David ! 

\Sees Saul. 

The king ! My father ! 

I cannot — am not — whither shall I, whither . . .? 

[Flees, as a scuMing is heard and David's 

voice. 

David. Loose me, I say. 'Twas Michal, and she 

called ! 

[Appears, withheld by Abiathar. 

(Breaking free.) I say that it was she ! 

Abiathar. Foolhardy, no; 

Return into the cave, and ere too late ! 

[Merab, veiled, enters behind them. 
David. 'Twas Michal and no other. 
Abiathar. You are duped. 

David (searching). The breathing of arch- 
angels could not so 
Have swung the burden from me as her . . . Ha! 
[Sees Merab; slowly recoils. 
Merab. It is not Michal. 



DAVID 95 

David. No — it is not Michal. 

[Motions the priest aside. 

Merab. Yet it is one who 

David. Need not lift her veil, 

Or longer stay. The path she came is open. 

Merab. I'm here — and here will speak. I've 
hither stolen. 
Yearning — I say it — yearning — and I will. 

David. These words I do not know. 

Merab. Because you will not. 

More all-devouring than a Moloch is 
This love within me 

David. Love and you are twain. 

As sun and Sheol. 

Merab. False. I am become 

For want of you as famine-wind, a wave 
In the mid-tempest, with no rest, no shore. 

David. I do not hear the unashamed words 
Of one who has but recently another, 
Adriel, wedded. 

Merab. You refuse me, then? 



96 DAVID 

David. I beg you but to cease. 

Merab. Goaded, chagrined? 

No, but this will I do. The Philistines, 
For long at rioting within their walls, 
Gather again and break toward Gilboa. . . . 

David. Merab of Saul ! 

Merab. To-morrow must my father 

Return from hunting you and arm for battle. 
But — many would that you were king. 

David. Were . . .? 

Merab. King ! 

David. I do not understand your eyes. 

Merab. I will 

For love of you arouse rebellion up, 
Murmur about the host your heaven-call, 
And lift you to the kingdom. 

David. To the Stay! 

Your words again. 

Merab. The kingdom. 

David. Awful God ! 

Merab. What is your mien? you will not? 



DAVID 97 

David. Twice the words — 

Full from her lips — and to betray her father. 

[Abiathar discovers Saui- 

Merab. You will not ? answer ! 

David. Odious utterly ! 

As yonder sea of death and bitter salt ! 
As foam-girt Joppa of idolatry, 
As Memphian fane of all abhorrencies ! 

[A pause. 
Morning would move with horror of it, noon 
A livid sepulcher of shame span o'er, 
And night shrink to remember day had been ! 

Merab. You scorn — you scorn me? 

David. Jonathan ! your sister ! 

Merab. Then Saul shall rend you dead. And 

Jonathan ! . . . 

[She laughs shrilly. 

Perchance you had not heard that Jonathan 
Knows to the Philistines you fled — and loathes you ! 
David. I have not heard. 



98 DAVID 

Merab. Nor have not, ah? how Michal 

Is given to the embraces of another? 

[David shrinks. 
You desperately breathe and pale at last? 

{She laughs more bitterly. 
To me for aid, to me you yet shall come. 

[She goes. David lifts his hand to his 
brow in pain. Then Abiathar 
abruptly descends from Saul's cave 
to him. 

Abiathar. David 

David. Leave me. 

Abiathar. Not till you know — and strike ! 

David. I tell you, go. 

Abiathar. I tell you 'tis the king. 

David. Who breaks forbearance — yes. 
Abiathar. Who lieth yonder, 

And sleeping lieth — for a thrust to end. 

David (his sword quickly out — struggling). 
Then shall there be an ending — of these wounds 
That wring me — of this wail 



DAVID 99 

Under the deeps of me against his wrongs. 
Saul, Saul I . \ . Michal ! . . . Oh, never-ceasing 
ill! 

[Flings down the sword in anguish. 

Abiathar. You will not come? 

David. The sun is set. 

Abiathar. Has Saul 

Hunted you to this desert's verge? 

David. Enough ! 

Abiathar. Has he pursued you, all his hate un- 
leashed ? 
Are Samuel — the priests, not slain? my father? 
The kingdom is not in decay, and falls? 
You are not prophecy's anointed one ? 
Seize up the sword and strike — or I myself! 

David. Or — you yourself? . . . 

[Puts them aside, takes sword, and goes 
to Savin's cave. 

Abishai. What will he do? . . , listen. 

[Michal enters unseen. 



loo DAVID 

Abiathar. If Saul cries out 

Abishai. Be ready. 

Michal (to them). What is this? 

[David reenters — haggard and wild; a 
piece of Saul's cloak and the sword 
still in his hand. . . . 

Michal (when she sees him, with a cry). Ah, 
you have slain — have slain him ? wretch of God ? 
And sleeping as he was? slain him in sleep? 
And merciless? (as rage takes David) and now 
will slay me too? 

David. You are the leper then, in faithless rags, 
Who drove me a prey upon this wilderness ! 
Upon the blot of it and death and sear ! 
The silence and relentless burning swoon ! 
You are the leper, who have broken troth 
And shut the cry of justice from your breast ! 
Who've stifled me with desolation's woe, 
Who've followed still and still have me betrayed! 

Michal. Betrayed? No, loose me! 



DAVID loi 

David. Slain thy father? slain? 

[Flinging the piece of Saul's cloak at her 
feet. 
See how I might — see, see you, yonder he lies, 
A king who quits the kingdom, though a cloud 
Of PhiHstines is foaming toward Gilboa; 
Jeoparded leaves it, undefended, for 
Pursuit of me and pitiless harrying ! 
A king who murders priests. . . . 

Michal. Priests ? 

David. Stifles God 

With penitence that He has shaped the world ! 
Have slain ? have slain him ! I have slain him ! 

Ah! 
Ah, that I had thy falseness and could slay him ! 

Michal. David . . . ! 

David. Nevermore near me ! never with 

That quivering and tenderness of lure. 
Those eyes that hold infinity of fate. 
That breathing cassia-sweet, but sorcery! 

Michal. Oh . . . 



I02 DAVID 

David. Never thy presence pouring beauty, 
swift, 
And seething in the brain as frantic wine ! 
I'll be no more enspelled of thee — Never ! 
I will not hear thee and be wound by words 
Into thy wile as wide as Ashtoreth's, 
Back into hope, eternity of pain ! 

[^He goes in agony — the priest and Abi- 
SHAi after. Michal stands gazing 
tearless before her as Saul, awakened, 
comes slowly from the mouth of the 
cave down toward her. 

Curtain 



ACT IV 



ACT IV 

Scene : The house of Miriam, the " Witch of En- 
dor^' by Mount Gilboa — where Saul is en- 
camped against the Philistines. It is of one 
story, built rectangularly about an inner court, 
which is dimly lighted. Under the gallery 
which ranges around the court are doors lead- 
ing to the sleeping and other apartments; be- 
fore one of these, a lattice. On the left is the 
gate opening to the street. At the back to one 
side, the teraphim, or image of divination; on 
the other side a stairway mounts to the roof. 
Above is the night and vague lightning amid 
a moan of wind. During the act comes dawn. 
Forward on a divan sits Miriam alone, in blind 
restlessness. 

Miriam. Adah ! . . . The child is sunken in a 
sleep. 



io6 DAVID 

Yet would I have her near me in this night, 
And hear again the boding of her tale. 
Unto the blind the vision and the awe 
Of the invisible sway ever in, 
The shadow of nativities that lead 
Upon fatality. 

Girl ! Adah ! Girl ! 

IThe wind passes. Adah enters from a 
chamber, rubbing her eyes. 

Thou art awake? 

Adah. I slumbered. 

Miriam. Stand you where 

Fathoming I may feel within you. Now, 
Again: you've hither fled your mistress Merab, 
In fear of her? 

Adah. Yes. 

Miriam. At Engeddi Michal 

By Saul was apprehended? Merab now 
Plotteth against her — she and Doeg? 



DAVID 107 

Adah. Still. 

Miriam. And Hwas in Merab's tent you heard, 
the king 
Despairing of to-morrow's battle, comes 
Hither to-night to bid me lift the spirit 
Of Samuel out of the dead and learn 
The issue ? 

Adah. Doeg said it. 

Miriam. And — you hear? — 

Many within the army urge for David, 
Would cry him king, if Saul were slain? 

Adah. O many. 

[A knock at the gate. They start up 
fearful. 

Miriam. Who seeks blind Miriam of Endor's 
roof, 
Under the night and unextinguished storm? 
Come you a friend? 

David (without). A friend. 



io8 DAVID 

Miriam. As knows my soul ! 

[Throws open the gate. David enters and 
Abiathar cloaked. 
Thy voice again ! — this blindness of my eyes — 
If it be David, speak. 

David. Yes, Miriam. 

Miriam. David of Jesse, Israel's desire ! 
Let me behold thee (her hands go over him) with 

my fingers' sight, 
And gather in them touch of thee again ! 
Thy voice is as dream-dulcimers that stir 
Quivering myrrh of memory and joy. 
But, aie ! why are you here ? You have been 
there? 

David. Yes — in the camp of Saul. 

Miriam. In spite of Death ! 

Do you not know 

David. I know — that Saul would rather 

O'er-trample me than a multitude of foes. 
That it is told him I who shun his ire — 
Though death were easier, if dutiful — 



DAVID 109 

Am come up with the Philistines to win 

The kingdom. That he would slay me though I 

fought 
For Israel!— But, Michal !— 

Miriam, Aie 

David, What brews? 

She was not in the camp. 

Miriam. Men all are mad ! 

And you who should be never. 

David, She is in 

Some peril. 

Miriam. You, in more ! And must from here 
Swiftly away, for Saul is 

David. I must see her. 

Miriam. Unholy ! 

David. Yet unholier were flight. 

Miriam, You are the anointed ! 

[A heavy knock at the gate. 

Ah, calamity ! 
You would not heed — 'tis Saul ! 



no DAVID 

David. Here ? 

Miriam. He is come 

That I shall call up Samuel. 

David. You, you — ? 

The awful dead? 

Saul (calls). Woman of Endor ! 

Miriam. Hide ! 

The lattice yonder ! 

Saul. Woman of Endor ! Woman ! 

[David and Abiathar withdraw. The 
knocking hastier. 
Woman of Endor ! Woman of Endor ! Woman ! 

Miriam. Who crieth at my gate? 

Satd. Unbar and learn. 

Miriam. To danger? 

Saul. None ? 

Miriam. To thieves? 

Saul. To rueing it 

You tarry ! 

[She lets him in, with Ishui and Adriel. 

Miriam. Whom seek you? 



DAVID III 

Saul. Witch of Endor, you, 

Who of the fate-revealing dead divine. 
Out of the Pit you call them ! 

Miriam. What is this? 

Saul. I say that you can raise them ! 

Miriam. You are come 

With snaring ! knowing well that Saul the king 
Is woe and bitterness to all who move 
With incantation. 

Saul. He is not. 

Miriam. Depart ! 

Saul. I must have up out of the Awfulness 
Him I would question. 

Miriam. Perilous ! 

Saul. Prepare 

Before thy teraphim. No harm, I swear, 
Shall come of it. Bid Samuel appear. 
The battle ! its event ! 

Miriam (with a cry). I know thee now! 
Saul ! thou art Saul ! the Terror ! 

Saul. Call him up. 



112 DAVID 

Ready is it, the battle — but I am 
Forsaken of all prophecy and dream, 
Of voices and of priest and oracle, 
To augur it. 

Miriam. A doom's in this ! 

Saul. He must 

Hold comfort, and the torrent of despair 
Within me stay and hush. 

Miriam. Then must it be. 

[She turns to the teraphim, amid wind and 
pallid lightning prostrating herself. 

Prophet of Israel, who art beyond 
The troubling and the terrifying grave, 
Th' immeasurable moan and melancholy 
Of ways that win to Sheol — Rise ! Arise ! 

IShe waits . . . Only the wind gust. 
Then springing up, with wide arms, 
and wild blind eyes. 

Prophet of Israel, arise ! Not in 
The name of Baal, Amon, Ashtoreth, 



DAVID 113 

Dagon or all the deities that dream 
In trembling temples of Idolatry, 
But of Jehovah ! of Jehovah ! rise ! 

• lAn elemental cry is heard. Then waver- 
ing forms rise, vast, out of the earth, 
in continuous stream. Miriam, with a 
curdling shriek, sinks moaning to her 
knees. 

Saul. Woman, I cannot — dare not — look upon it. 
Utter thy sight. 

IThe Spirit of Samuel begins to take 
shape through the phantoms. 

Miriam. 1 see . . . ascending 

Forms as of gods in swaying ghostliness, 
Dim apparitions of a dismal might, 
And now is one within a mantle clad, 
Who looketh 

Saul. Samuel ! 

Miriam. Who looketh with 

Omniscience in his mien, and there is chill 



114 DAVID 

And cling about him of eternity ! 
His eyes impale me ! 
Saul. Spirit, give me word ! 

IHe falls heavily to the ground. 
Samuel (as afar). O evil king! and wretched 
king ! why hast 
Thou brought me from the quietness and rest? 

Saul. The battle on the morrow 

Samuel. Evil thou art 

For underneath this night thou hast conspired 
Death to thy daughter Michal — if at dawn 
The battle shall be lost — lest she may fall 
Into the hands of David. 
David (in horror). O! 

Ishui. Whose cry? 

Samuel. I tell thee, Saul, thy scepter shrivels 
fast. 
The battle shall be lost — it shall be lost. 

[The Spirit of Samuel disappears. A wail 
of wind. 
Adriel. Ishui, true? Is Michal to be slain? 



DAVID 115 

Ishui. This is no hour for fools and question- 
ing. 

Saul (struggling up). The battle, Ishui, at once 
command 
It shall begin ! To Jonathan and say it. 

[Ishui goes. 

No prophecy shall sink me and no shade. 
I am the king, and Israel, my own. 

[Frensied he goes. A silence. 

David (breaking forth). Michal to die and 
Israel to fall ! 
Prophet of prophets, Samuel, return ! 
Out of the Shadow and the Sleep, return, 
Compassionate, and tell me where she is, 
That I may save. Again appear and say 
That Israel to-morrow may not fall — 
Not fall on ruin! 

Adriel. David? is it thou? 

David. Meholah's Adriel, your conscience asks. 

Adriel. You were concealed? 



ii6 DAVID 

David. And I have heard. Cry then 

Out unto Saul ! Betray me, cry you out ! 

Adriel. Betray? 

David. Is the word honey? Is it balm? 

Adriel. David, I've wronged you — 

David. Haply ! 

Adriel. Jealously. 

And ask now no forgiveness — not until 
Michal is won from peril ! 

David. Do you know 

More of her? still? 

Adriel. Saul 

David. Saul ? 

Adriel. Has given Doeg 

Power of this. . . . And to some spot of Endor 
Here he has brought her. 

David. God ! 

Adriel. And now himself, 

Doeg, himself cannot be far away. 

David. Ahaste, and bring him then by force or 
guile, 



DAVID 117 

In any way, that we may from him win 

Where she is prisoned. 

[Adriel goes. 

The quivering 
Quicksands of destiny beneath her stir. 
Is heaven a mocking shield that ever keeps 
God from our prayers? 

Miriam. David, contain thy heart. 

\^A faint uproar begins afar; and dawn. 

David. The battle ! on the wind. Abiathar, 
Speed out upon the mountain-side and cull 
All that befalls. 

[Adah opens the gate. The priest goes. 

Adah {springing hack). Oh! 

David. Child, why do you quail? 

Adah. My mistress, Merab ! 

David. Girl ? 

Adah. I saw her — she — 

Is coming hither! Do not let her — she — 
I fear — I fear her ! 

David. Hither coming? 



ii8 DAVID 

Adah. She ! 

\_The gate is thrown open fiercely. 

Merab (entering). Woman and witch, did Ad- 
riel, my husband, 
Come to you with the king? 

[Sees David. 

David. Unnatural, 

Unkind, most cruel sister ! 

Merab (shrinks). You are here? 

David. Once me you would have poisoned, but 
the coil 
Within your bosom I beheld. And now 
Michal your sister is the victim. 

Merab. I — 

Know not your meaning. 

David. The battle burning yonder, 

If it adversely veers, the king has planned 
Michal is not to live lest she may hap 
Unto my arms. 



DAVID 119 

Merah. That Michal shall be slain? 

[The tumult again. 
David. Almighty, smite, and save to Thee thy 
people ! 
And save Thy altars unto Israel ! 

\^He hows his head. A stir comes at the 
gate. 
Merah. David, 'tis Adriel! 
Adriel. Ope ! open, you ! 

David. At last the word. 

Merah. Girl, Adah, draw the bar. 

[David throws a cloak to his face, as 
Adah oheys. Adriel enters, and 
DoEG, who pauses in quick alarm, as 
David goes between him and the gate, 
Doeg. What place is this? Why do you bar 
that gate? 
Merab, 'tis you? Why do you gaze, rigid? 
And this is the blind witch, Miriam? 
David. It is. 

[He throws off the cloak. 



I20 DAVID 

Doeg. Lured? I am snared? a trap? 

David. Where have you Michal? 

Doeg {drawing). No closer! 

David. If she is an atom harmed ! 

Where is she? 

Doeg. I was the servant of the king, 

I but obey him. 

David. And thy horrible heart. 

Then speak, or unto frenzy I am driven. 

Doeg. I'll drive you there with 

[Breaks off with low laugh. 

David. Tell it ! 

Doeg. Unto your 

Soft sympathy — and passion? {Laughs.) She is 
dead. 

David {immovable, then repressed). 
If it is so, the lightning, that is wrath 
Within the veins of God, should sink its fang 
Into thy bosom and sear out thy heart. 
If it is so, this momentary calm, 
This silence pouring overfull the world, 



DAVID 121 

Would rush and in thee cry until thy bones 
Broken of guilt are crumbled in thy groans. 
Dead, she is dead? 

Miriam. No, David, my lord, he lies ! 

IStrangely, as in a trance. 
To wound you, lies ! 

David. Not dead? 

Miriam. I see her eyes ! 

lAll listen amazed. 

I see her in a vision. She is near 

Is in a cave — is bound — and is alone. 
I will go to her — quickly bring her. 

Doeg. Not — 

\Lunges at her. 
If this shall reach you. 

David. Ah, to pierce a woman ! 

[Miriam finds her way out. 
You've plotted, have been false and bloody, foul. 
And as a pestilence of midnight marsh 
Have oozed corruption into all around you. 
The kingdom thro' you is in brokenness, 



122 DAVID 

Within its arteries you flow, poison, 

Incentive of irruption and unrest. 

Of treachery and disaffection's sore, 

Till even the stars that light it seem as tares 

Sown hostile o'er the nightly vale of heaven. 

IDraws Urmly. Coldly, skillfully ap- 
proaches for attack. 
Doeg (retreating). No farther ! 
David. Unto the end ! unto the end ! 

[He rushes in; they engage; Doeg is 
wounded. 
Your villainy is done. 

[Quickly forces him under. The gate then 
opens and Abiathar hurries in. 

Abiathar. David, the battle ! 



[Sees Doeg and stops, pale. 
David. Fetter him. 

Abiathar. Only fetter? (His dagger out) the 
murderer 
Of priestly sanctity and of my father? 



DAVID 123 

David. Abiathar ! You know obedience ? 

[DoEG is sullenly bound and led aside. 
Then a panic is heard afar, and dim 
laments. David, who has sunk to a 
seat, springs anxiously up. 

Listen ! that cry ! 

A Voice. Woe ! woe ! 

David. What is its wail? 

The Voice. The battle's lost ! 

David. Abiathar — ? 

The Voice. Saul flees ! 

David. Abiathar, is lost? 

Abiathar. I fear it. 

David. Then, (pointing to Doeg) 

Off with his armor for me. I will go 
Forth and may backward, backward bend defeat. 
Duty to Saul is over. 

Adriel. You must not. 

A fruitless intrepidity it were. 

Abiathar. Remember your anointing! 



124 DAVID 

Abishai. And its need ! 

[The gate opens. 
And Michal ! remember Michal ! for she lives ! 

[David turns. Michal enters with Mir- 
iam. 
Adriel. Hosanna ! 

Miriam. David ! David ? 

Michal {pleading, to him). It is I. 

Miriam. The cords were cruel, hungrily sank in 
Her wrists and ankles. 
Michal. David ! look on me. 

David. My words must be alone with her — 

alone. 
Adriel. Come, all of you — the battle. 

[They go out the gate. 
Michal. My lord ! . . . my lord ! 

[He is silent. 
I ask not anything but to be heard — 
Though once I would not hear. Has all of life 
No glow for me? 



DAVID 125 

David. Betrayers should have none. 

Michal. I was a woman — the entanglement 
Of duty amid love we have no skill 
To loosen, but with passion. 

David. You too late 

Remember it is so. 

Michal. Nobility 

All unbelievable it seemed that you 
Could innocently wait on time to tide 
You to the kingdom. Then forgive, I plead. 

David. But, in the wilderness, your perfidy ! 

Michal. Doubt of it welleth thro' your voice. 
No, no, 
To save you strove I ! 

David. Michal ? 

Michal. Not to betray! 

From Saul, my father, penitent I fled, 
Seeking you in Engeddi's wild. 

David. And Phalti? 

Michal. 'Twas wedding him I loathed. 

David, Say true ! 



126 DAVID 

Michal. This knife 

Unfailingly into my breast had sunk 
And spared me, had not flight. 

David. This — this can be? 

[/4 great joy dawning in him. 
Beyond all hope it is, even as day's 
Wide empery outspans our littleness. 
A tithing of thy loveliness were beauty 
Enough for earth. Yet it is mine, is mine? 
Michal. David — forever ! 

[^She starts toward his arms. But cries and 
confusion of cries beat back their 
joy. Then the gate is Hung open and 
Adriel enters, shaken. He looks from 
one to the other. 
David {at last). Adriel! Adriel! 

What have you? 
Adriel. Saul — is slain ! 
Michal. My father? 

Adriel. Slain ! 

And Jonathan 



DAVID 127 

David. No ! 

Adriel. Fell beside him down. . . . 

The fray was fast — Israel fled — the foe 
Fierce after Saul, whom Jonathan defended. 

Michal. My father! 

David. And my brother Jonathan ! 

If I believe it will not miracle 
Alone bring joy again unto my pain? 

IThe wailing again, and deeper groans. 
O Israel, the Infinite has touched 
Thy glory and it changes to a shroud ! 
Thy splendor is as vintage overspilt, 
For Saul upon the mountains low is lying, 
And Jonathan beside him, beautiful 
Beyond the mar of battle and of death. 
Yea, kingly Jonathan! And I would give 
The beating of my life into his veins. 
Willing for it would I be drouth and die! . . . 

[^As the wails rearise. 
Peaks, mountains of Gilboa ! let no more 
Dew be upon you, and as sackcloth let 



128 DAVID 

Clouds cover you, and ashes be your soil. 
Until I bring upon Philistia 
And Gath and Askalon extinguishing, 
And sorrow — and immensity of tears ! 

[MiCHAL goes to him. He folds her in his 
arms. 
But we must calm the flowing of this grief. 
Though yet we cannot mind us to remember 
How love will as sandal-breath and trickling balm 
O'erheal us in the unbegotten years, 
Too headlong must not be our agony. 
Hush now thy woundedness, my Michal, now. 
See, o'er the East the lifted wings of Dawn. 

\_They climb the stair to the housetop. 
As they look away toward the battle's 
rout the clouds part, and over them 
breaks the full brightness of the 
sun. . . , 

THE END 



